LI reps must stand strong on SALT relief

Running for election last September, President Donald Trump was cheered at his Uniondale rally for taking the position that taxpayers would "get SALT back." Voters reasonably understood the vow to mean a return to full state and local tax deductions. During his first term, Trump allowed a $10,000 cap on these deductions to politically punish blue states such as New York and to offset the GOP’s massive 2017 tax cuts for corporations and wealthy individuals.

Now a GOP Congress is finalizing the federal budget and must decide which expiring key parts of that 2017 tax bill it wants to keep. And fully eliminating the $10,000 cap — which gutted tax rules that had protected Americans from double taxation for more than 100 years — isn’t even on the table, at least not yet. Instead, the GOP House majority is considering only raising the cap to $30,000 for most taxpayers, along with a new income limit that would deny a good chunk of Long Islanders from using it. 

LI Republicans Andrew Garbarino and Nick LaLota, along with Rep. Mike Lawler from Rockland County, are leading the fight against their leadership to get suburban New Yorkers a better deal. Democratic Reps. Tom Suozzi, who three times passed a House bill to get SALT deductions restored when Democrats were in control only to see it die in the Senate, and freshman Laura Gillen are making a lot of noise, too.

Our local representatives know that they’re up against the contrived myth from red-state representatives that a full return to SALT would benefit only rich folks whom they define as earning $200,000 annually. That ain't rich here. Long Island's middle-class civil servants, professionals, homeowners and other working individuals and families have taken an unfair tax-time hit since the cap was imposed.

Just a glance at relevant statistics mars the out-of-town stereotype. For 2022, only 14% of income tax returns filed from Nassau County were for incomes of $200,000 or more; for Suffolk, that percentage was about 10%. According to IRS data, 80% of households in Long Island's congressional districts would be covered if a $40,000 cap were set. That's not good enough, especially if the GOP wants to add an income ceiling.

The cries of GOP naysayers don't ring true. If the refusal to lift the cap is to thwart "wealthy" New York families from benefiting from tax rules in effect from 1914, it would make more sense to go back to the rules before 2017. Simply restore SALT as it was — and raise the top federal tax rate from the current 37% to the previous 39.6% that will capture a lot more wealthy folks and raise more revenue. 

Clearly, LaLota and Garbarino should hold out for total removal of the SALT cap. If Speaker Mike Johnson can’t find the gumption to make it happen, Trump ought to force Congress to fulfill his own promise to "get SALT back."